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Crafty Tricks That Catch Caribbean Cruisers Out (Again & Again!)
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Jan 28, 2025
After watching Caribbean cruise passengers getting hoodwinked in a port side market as I had been a year previously, it got me thinking about 5 of the biggest mistakes Caribbean cruisers fall for all the time GET EXCLUSIVE BONUS CONTENT BY BECOMING A CHANNEL MEMBER ———————————————— Find out more at: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_qE-Obs2ocdmPXY0TIU-cw/join or Patron on Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/tipsfortravellers BUY MY CRUISE-THEMED T-SHIRTS AND MERCHANDISE ———————————————— * Check out my T-Shirt range at http://bit.ly/TFTStore and other merchandise (mugs, notebooks, hoodies etc) at https://www.teepublic.com/stores/tipsfortravellers?ref_id=22354 MY SOCIAL MEDIA ———————————————* * Blog: https://www.tipsfortravellers.com * Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/garybembridge * Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/tipsfortravellers * Instagram: http://www.instgram.com/garybembridge * LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bembridge
View Video Transcript
0:00
on my recent Caribbean cruise I saw a
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storehold in Dominica successfully pull
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the same stunt on a passenger that I had
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fallen for a year ago seeing it got me
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thinking about other tricks mistakes
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that I should warn passengers like you
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about so you can avoid them if you're
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new here welcome aboard I'm Gary
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bembridge I want to start with things I
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keep seeing passengers getting wrong
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when they're in Port starting with that
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stall holder she waits for people taking
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pictures of the stores even from across
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the road then beckons them over before
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angrily ranting about taking a picture
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without asking and demands that in
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return you must buy something from her
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store now I fell for it for the first
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time even though I knew she wasn't in
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the photo because I was kind of
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embarrassed about the whole situation
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and it's clearly still working for her
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I've seen it in other markets around the
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Caribbean like Saint Martin so be ready
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and definitely ask permission if stall
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holders or Beach vendors are in the shot
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now there are other mistakes that I see
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people keep making when buying from
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stores and also shops close to the port
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in my experience most stores around the
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ports sell the same goods and despite
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many saying they're hand crafted unique
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or rare many are in fact mass-produced
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even places like China and are not local
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at all and also usually overpriced so
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for example those Dominica stores all
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sell vanilla Essence which I really like
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they charge at least eight dollars a
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bottle once further into town I found
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it's half or even less that price in the
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stores it's not just stall holders the
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close to Port shops generally are much
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more expensive too for example in Costa
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Maya so everything I bought in the port
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shopping area was under half the price
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in the nearby town the other thing to
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watch out for in stores close to the
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port is the 50 off for other big
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discounts often they're basically made
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up promotions with spurious original
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retail selling prices to kind of lull us
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into thinking we getting a great deal
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beware of prices and for bigger ticket
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items definitely check the prices online
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before buying also by the way be
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cautious shopping with a cruise line
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recommends if you do go go with your
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eyes well open the shopping advisors
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onboard Caribbean Cruisers are not
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employed by the lion and they are not
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independent they are promoters for
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stores such as diamonds International
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Del Sol and Effie who pay handsomely to
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be in the program and the advisors earn
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commissions from what you buy I see
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passengers getting sucked into buying
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expensive Goods on a recent Honda
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America Caribbean cruise for example
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when I got into my cabin on check-in day
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there were discount coupons and free
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charms to start collecting with more
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free ones available by visiting certain
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stores in each of the ports you're
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calling on now these charms are
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basically worthless and the stores have
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really skilled salesmen to pressure you
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into buying stuff of course people from
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the street offering Louis Vuitton bags
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or Rolex watches are selling counterfeit
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goods and buying recreational drugs
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which many ports have people offering
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are a big mistake not just because
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you're probably going to be ripped off
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like a couple I met on an earlier
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Caribbean cruise where they bought
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marijuana they found it was just
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basically dried up leaves but if the
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cruise lines catch you as drugs even
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marijuana which is legal in some parts
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of the US they will throw you off the
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cruise next I see a lot of passengers
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making mistakes with taxis another set
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of things I by the way learned the hard
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way the first I learned in Cozumel I
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plan to go to a specific Beach Club I'd
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read about the taxi driver said look I
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know a much better place he took me
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there and one thing I realized it was a
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dump and he was getting a kickback to
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take passengers there so stick to your
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guns if there's a place you want to go
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another mistake I discovered is not
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clarifying the fair carefully as most
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taxes don't have meters and you
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basically agree a price for the ride but
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there can be a catch as I discovered for
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example in Grand Cayman we were quoted a
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price but once got to the beach he tried
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to charge us double he argued the price
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he had given us was per person not for
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the whole cab ride
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so now I always always check the total
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price the third mistake was taking one
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of those taxis waiting outside the port
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area offering tours for the morning or
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the day of the island I did remember to
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check the total price but found we kept
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being taken to shops markets restaurants
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and bars where of course he was getting
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commissions rather than spending our
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time or sightseeing so check what and
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where the tour will be taking you while
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talking about exploring the ports there
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are a few mistakes I keep seeing here
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too first do not wait to book once
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you're on board because things will
5:00
often get sold out many Cruise Lines put
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excursions on sale 100 days or more
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before the sailing go in and have a look
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at those and see what the options are
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especially if your cruise is going to
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one of the private islands like condom
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America's Hoffman key perfect date
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or harvest key as the popular activities
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and even things like those clam shells
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and banners they sell out really really
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quickly but second when you're looking
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at the Cruise Line Tours check the
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detail of what is going to happen I made
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the mistake of not reading the
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description for an Excursion in Saint
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Lucia a few cruises back I saw the
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headline saying a beach Excursion for
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five hours what I didn't pay attention
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to was it was 45 minutes each way
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and included a visit to a local Craft
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Center on the way craft said it was just
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a big shop with a very perfunctory
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demonstration how they make chocolate
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candles and cloth printing we spent well
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over an hour there for shopping and in
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the end just an hour and a half at the
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beach not the five hours I was expecting
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I've since then discovered and used a
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site by the way called resortpass.com
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where I found you can book a day pass to
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fancy Resorts with beach access and
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pools for way less and sometimes in
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walking distance or a short taxi ride
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away so that's worth considering too but
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whatever you do in the Caribbean don't
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make the mistake of letting your guard
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down and be lulled into sense of
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security just because there's so many
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people there and importantly assuming
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because the lines are calling into an
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island means everything is fine at
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various points of time over the last few
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years islands that Lions visit often
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have been flagged as dangerous places
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for cruise passengers including Roatan
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Honduras Paris Jamaica Saint Lucia
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Nassau even the U.S Virgin Islands
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Antigua Saint Kitts and Nevis and colon
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many of the governments of these islands
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of course and places dispute that
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they're dangerous but some of these
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places do have crime especially if you
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stroll out of busy and monitored places
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now the good news is I've seen most
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islands are getting much more focused
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with police and tourist police
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increasingly around the ports and also
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in many of those popular tourist places
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so for example Dominica around the port
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area they have an entry-controlled area
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where the ship docks its manned by both
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tourist police and police so only
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licensed vendors and taxis are actually
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allowed into that area in Barbados for
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example the beaches are really full and
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patrolled by tourist police who keep an
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eye on things including the vendors make
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sure that they're not kind of pushing
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things a little bit too far importantly
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all the ports have tourist information
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booths in the port area and I always
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check in with them as they will have
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leaflets for their listed and approved
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and safe tours and I also double check
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with them the places I'm planning to go
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are safe and suitable
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if you prefer though not to do that and
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you want to check online look at a site
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I mentioned in other Cruise tip videos
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called what's import.com as they also
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list an advice on safety Port by port
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and the best things to do
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while you shouldn't go out in ports with
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flash jewelry and watches and other
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valuables I have seen the downside
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though of mistakenly not taking some
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other things out with you when you are
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in Caribbean ports so what are those
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first off these days many islands now
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requests we carry government issued
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photo ID and some check the first idea
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with your cruise card when returning to
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the ship through the port area now I
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take my UK driver's license rather than
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my passport which if I lose or damage
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that it's not going to be as problematic
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as if it was my passport so remember to
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take photo ID with you on your cruise
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but equally important always take the
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local Port agent details with you it's
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usually listed in the daily program so
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take that or as I do just take the
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photograph of it if you have any issue
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they are the people to contact whether
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it's an Accident Injury problems of the
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law you're running late to get back to
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the ship or even in fact have missed the
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ship they are the people who sort things
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out but something most don't think to
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take or check they are clear on is which
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Port the ship is at now that might sound
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Slightly bizarre but in many Caribbean
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islands there are more than one place
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that cruise ships will dock so for
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example example in Honduras you may be
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at Puerto Cortez Cox and Hall at
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Mahogany Bay or Trujillo in Cozumel
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there are also three Punta lagusta the
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international pier and Puerto Maya now I
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was on a Cunard Caribbean cruise some
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years back when the couple on the table
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next to us for dinner they're running a
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little bit late after misjudging time
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they jumped in a taxi asked to be taken
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to the port they were taken to the wrong
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put which was some distance away and the
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problem is the fair had used up all of
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their cash they had no more cash to pay
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to get to the right Port now they did
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have the port agent number who then
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spoke to the taxi driver got them to the
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right port and between them they sorted
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out the money to pay the taxi driver
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then there is the mistake of cruising
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the Caribbean by the way without a
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passport at all even though many U.S
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residents don't have to but when things
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go wrong it can cause Havoc now I talk
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about it in this video where I dive into
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this and other tips cruise travel agents
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actually have to see you over there to
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find out why you should cruise in the
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Caribbean with a passport
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